More Officials Called to Testify on Duke Energy’s Boardroom Coup

After four hours of testimony earlier this week about the dramatic boardroom coup at Duke Energy just hours after completing a $32 billion merger with Progress Energy, the head of North Carolina’s utilities commission hinted that there would be more hearings to come.

The commission on Thursday ordered William D. Johnson, the ousted chief executive, and four board members to testify on July 19 and 20. Mr. Johnson, the former chief executive of Progress, was set to run the combined companies. But shortly after the deal closed, the board forced him to resign and replaced him with James E. Rogers, the Duke chief executive.

Mr. Rogers told the commission his side of the story on Tuesday, saying that the board dismissed Mr. Johnson because it was concerned about his management style and oversight of Progress’s nuclear power assets. He said that he played no role in the decision to remove Mr. Johnson.

“It’s just as simple as the board lost confidence in his ability to lead,” Mr. Rogers said.

Now Mr. Johnson will have the opportunity to deliver his version of events. His lawyer, Wade Smith, has said that his client welcomes the opportunity to testify. It will be his first public comments since he left the company last week.

The commission has also ordered two Duke directors — Ann Maynard Gray and Michael Browning — to testify, as well as two former Progress directors, E. Marie McKee and James Hyler Jr.

Before the merger closed, the executives and directors of the combined companies told its shareholders — and the numerous government regulators that had to approve the deal — that Mr. Johnson would be chief executive of the merged company and Mr. Rogers would serve as executive chairman.

The North Carolina regulator initiated hearings to understand whether it was misled about the corporate governance structure. State law allows the commission to rescind or amend its approval of the deal.

Duke’s merger with Progess created the nation’s largest electric utility, with more than 7 million customers across six states. It employs about 30,000.

The fallout from the board’s surprise executive-suite switch has been considerable. Three of Progress’s top five executives resigned from the combined company following Mr. Johnson’s ouster. And in addition to the utilities commission, the attorney general of North Carolina — where both companies are based — has started an investigation.

Four former Progress directors who did not join the newly constituted board have said they would not have approved the merger had they known Mr. Rogers would be put in charge.